Verin Mathwin
| appeared= | ewot=verin }} Verin Mathwin (pronounced: VEH-rihn MATH-wihn) is an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah. Verin has grayed hair and is considered to be one of the oldest Aes Sedai alive; likely over 200 years old. Like all members of the Brown Ajah, she devotes herself to knowledge and the pursuit of it; as a result, she has a tendency to go on fruitless tangents in dire conversations, and appear lost in thought at inopportune moments. Unlike other Brown sisters however, she seems only to appear to be in these reveries to disguise her intentions, as she is at times very sharp and insightful. Moiraine Damodred remembered her particularly fondly from her days as a Novice and Accepted as Verin used to have the cooks leave sweets out for her and Siuan Sanche. Verin also told Morgase Trakand that there was no real need for her to remain in the Tower as she would never be able to do much with her limited talent even with teaching. Her rooms in the Brown Ajah's quarters are located next to a tapestry of two Kings who lived before Artur Hawkwing. Her rooms are full of books, scrolls, maps and skulls. There is also a brown owl that sits on a skull to keep the mice down as they chew paper. She wears plain garb, shying away from the finer silks and fabrics some other sisters prefer. She almost always keeps a writing case on her belt in order to jot down notes on certain goings-on when she feels it is important. Her notes take up many cupboards and chests in her room in the Tower. The notebooks are written in a cipher to prevent anyone reading what she is really writing about. Regarding her skills in the Power, her Healing skill is no more than average, and her skill with Earth is quite feeble; she has, however, discovered a weak form of Compulsion, similar to the form Liandrin of the Black Ajah uses. This was purely an exercise in curiosity at first and was done by piecing together fragments of wilders tricks to get people to do as they wished. Verin believes no Aes Sedai can surpass her at Delving. She is one of the Aes Sedai who has the ability to Travel. Her skill in Cloud Dancing must be at least of average strength because she often has worked with the weather throughout the series. History Early life Verin was born in Far Madding. She had a fiancé Eadwin before she was exiled for being able to channel the One Power. She went to Tar Valon where she spent 5 years as a novice and 6 years as Accepted before being raised to the shawl and joining the Brown Ajah. She has traveled extensively, even going as far as Falme to look at a Portal Stone and perhaps even spent a month in Cairhien trying to find the source of Hurin's powers to smell violence and bloodshed. She also at one point found a twisted ring ter'angreal known as a sleepweaver hidden by the Tower's last Dreamer and used it to enter Tel'aran'rhiod, the World of Dreams, where she received a physical scar that Anaiya was unable to heal fully. Her warder is Tomas. The Great Hunt She was one of the fourteen Aes Sedai who accompanied Siuan Sanche to Fal Dara. While there in a meeting with Moiraine and Siuan she correctly guessed that one of the three ta'veren must be the Dragon Reborn, causing Siuan and Moiraine to briefly consider killing her before bringing her into a level of trust. After an assault by Shadowspawn on Fal Dara, during which the Horn of Valere was stolen, she elected to follow the three ta'veren in their attempts to recover the stolen Horn, rather than return to Tar Valon. This created a discrepency as she claimed to have been asked by Moiraine to accompany them while Moiraine later said she did nothing of the sort. During her travels she offered Rand al'Thor a hint at how to activate the Portal Stones, which resulted in him propelling the entire party into a series of painful visions about the alternate lives they could have lived/ Upon reaching the cape town of Falme, she sent Rand, with Matrim Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Ingtar Shinowa and Hurin to recover the Horn as well as Mat's dagger, which incidentally fulfilled an passage from the Karaethon Cycle. She returned to Tar Valon with Elayne Trakand, Egwene al'Vere, Nynaeve al'Meara and Mat. On returning she became the only person other than Siuan to know that Siuan hid the Horn of Valere in the White Tower. There, along with nine other Aes Sedai, as well as a powerful sa'angreal, she helped sever Mat's connection to the tainted dagger from Shadar Logoth. In the meeting with Siuan she hinted at letting him die so he would no longer be linked to the Horn and some other person could blow it for the Tower. She also became aware of Egwene and Nynaeve's search for the Black Ajah. Later she gives Egwene the sleepweaver, allowing her to enter Tel'aran'rhiod. She also failed to give Egwene some notes that could be important to her talent or her search for the Black Ajah. In the Two Rivers She later turned up in the Two Rivers with Alanna Mosvani where the two discovered many girls with the potential to channel, including Bode Cauthon. In the Two Rivers she helped Perrin fight an immense horde of Shadowspawn that were assaulting Emond's Field. While helping Perrin in his fight she made notes on the effects that Perrin has through him being ta'veren. During her time in the Two Rivers, Verin showed an interest in the hammer that Perrin carried instead of the axe he carried the last time they met. Just before the final battle with the Trollocs, she wondered when he would forsake the axe for the hammer. One of the Prophecies in the Karaethon Cycle says, "When the Wolf King carries the hammer, thus are the final days known." This made her understanding of the Prophecies, as well as Perrin's nature, very evident and potent as she has deduced something that perhaps only Moiraine may have. She is very interested in the three ta'veren, and expressed a desire to split into three just so she could tail all of them, even going as far as to say she would marry one or all of them in order to stay by their side. .]] Helping Rand Verin sided with the rebelling faction of Aes Sedai centered in Salidar after reaching Caemlyn , and sent the new novices from the Two Rivers to Salidar. She attempted to manipulate other Aes Sedai into confronting Rand and they decided to follow him to Cairhien after they received a letter from him. On their journey they met up with Perrin who was leading an army to rescue Rand from the White Tower. Verin took part in the Battle of Dumai's Wells and was forced to swear an oath to Rand after the successful outcome of the battle. She then set about helping Rand by using a weak form of Compulsion on some of the Tower Aes Sedai who had kidnapped him so that they will serve Rand up until Tarmon Gai'don. She joined the group of sisters who follow Rand; these sisters were led by Cadsuane Melaidhrin. Verin wants Rand to get to the Last Battle but her true allegiance is unclear at this time as it is possible that she has spoken a lie, which should be impossible due to the Three Oaths. Verin was also ready to poison Cadsuane in Far Madding when she thought that Cadsuane would harm Rand. She took part in the battle where Rand removed the taint on saidin. During this battle she, while linked with Kumira and the Windfinder Shalon din Togara Morning Tide, encountered Graendal who they were able to fend off, but in exchange for Kumira's life. After continuing to travel with Rand Verin suddenly disappeared, although she left him a letter saying he could trust Cadsuane but no other Aes Sedai no matter what oaths they have sworn to him. Last journey After leaving Rand, she traveled to Tear with the intention of continuing on to Tar Valon. During her journey the ta'veren nature of Mat drew her to Trustair through interruptions while she attempts to Travel and exiting at the wrong place when Skimming because of an off-hand comment by Tomas. She then distributed pictures of Mat and Perrin to find out where they are, as she correctly guessed it was one of them pulling her to them. When eventually meeting up with the Band of the Red Hand, she offered to take them directly to Caemlyn if Mat will agree to follow a letter of instructions that she left with him. The letter was to be opened 10 days after his arrival. Mat negotiated a deal that gave him the choice to either open the letter after 10 days and follow the instructions or not open it but stay in Caemlyn for 30 days. Mat intends to use the latter option. Before breaking camp, Mat notices that Verin had a stack of sealed envelopes in her bag. Verin next appeared in the White Tower. To quickly gain Egwene's attention and gain a private meeting, she lied about the color of Egwene's dress. She then confirmed that she is a member of the Black Ajah. She also revealed that she joined after being given the choice between that or death, and that she secretly had another motivation — to study them. During the meeting she said that to continue her research, she became involved with recent events and followed Rand. She also showed insight into how the Forsaken and the Dark One operate. Verin was able to tell Egwene all of this because she had poisoned herself, and a loophole in her Black Ajah oaths, "not to betray the Great Lord, to keep my secrets until the hour of my death," allowed her to betray them since her death was then imminent. She did not believe that she would be redeemed but gave Egwene two books, one with details of the Black Ajah and the other with the cipher to decode it. Egwene later used this information to cull the Black Ajah from the Aes Sedai, stilling and executing many of them, although some were able to get away. Verin also told Egwene that one of the Forsaken, Mesaana, had infiltrated the White Tower but she could not determine who she was impersonating. Also in the book she had recorded the prophecies Darkfriends believe and the different factions within. Egwene was impressed with how accurate Verin's list of Black Ajah members was. After revealing this information Verin died, and soon after the Battle of Tar Valon began. Allegiance Verin's actions had led to speculation about her allegiance before it was revealed. The most suspicious act was her lie that, "Moiraine sent me." Another suspicious act was hiding the notes of Corianin Nedeal after giving the sleepweaver to Egwene. She also discovered a method of compulsion that violates Tower Law, though the way she used it does not technically violate the Three Oaths as she phrased it in a way that would not harm the recipient. In Verin's thoughts she referred to the Dark One by that epithet rather than by the title "Great Lord" which most Darkfriends would use. She also stayed her hand when about to poison Cadsuane upon discovering that Cadsuane's true intentions were to help Rand al'Thor survive to Tarmon Gai'don. The reason for the inconsistencies was revealed by Verin herself when she revealed to Egwene that she had spent the previous 70 years as a mole in the Black Ajah. She turned over copious notes about the Black, including a list of every member of the Black Ajah she could find. The list was remarkably accurate, with only a handful of others being found through Egwene's purges in both the rebel and Tower camps using the Oath Rod. To enable herself to betray the Shadow, she poisoned herself (her oath not to betray it only holding until "the hour of her death"), more or less proving her true commitment to the Light. Despite her death, a few of Verin's plots remain in motion. She gave Mat a sealed letter to be opened on the tenth day after she leaves him in Caemlyn. As she does so, other such letters are visible in her bag.